House sales slow down

by Aaron Strutt

Jun 24 2011

According to the latest figures from HM Revenue & Customs, May saw 68,000 properties sold over £40,000 across the UK.

The number of property sales has been slowing since 2007, although there was a slight increase last year. However, figures for 2011 show that 68,000 properties were sold last month, compared to 71,000 in May last year. Four years ago the figure was substantially higher at 140,000.

These figures are very different from Rightmove’s House Price Index, released earlier this week. They say that seller’s asking prices rose for the sixth consecutive month.

Henry Pryor, a housing pundit, is quoted as saying: “Last year there were 884,000 home sold across the UK and this compares with over 1.66 million in 2006 - this year we could see fewer than 800,000 homes change hands.

“Average sales recorded by Land Registry and by lenders like Halifax are a record £75,000 lower than the average asking price reported by Rightmove. The value of your house is based on what other homes sell for, not how much their optimistic owners were asking for.”

June 24, 2011